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I arrived at MSP yesterday, March 9th at noon, right on schedule. I have been planning and daydreaming about this two week adventure for almost three months (and also dreading the decision I made to take four flights in 24 hours with a minimum of 3 hour layovers between). It’s been pretty fucked up to be completely honest, but I’ve gotten to see some stuff and talk to some people I never would have, shared language or otherwise. In Philly I watched a guy sitting next to me at the bar put away three margaritas in an hour without looking up from his phone, and watched the slushy machine fall of the stand and shatter, splattering “frozé” behind the bar and all over the poor barbacks. That was the perfect segue for the bartender to tell me all of her mysterious ghostly encounters working at the airport which was just the right amount of drama to distract me from the fact that I didn’t do my homework right and was unable to fix the format on my phone. That was Philly (5 hours of airport Philly). The flight to Madrid was thankfully uneventful. I took a 3 mg melatonin which it probably equivalent to a Xanax for anyone else, and woke up every hour for 6 hours. Reflecting now I do feel like the melatonin was probably enhanced by the heavy ass pour of free white wine I was given upon departure. I felt strange and scared when I woke up but well rested enough to navigate the Madrid airport for the first time alone. I got off and did not stop walking for literally the whole hour and a half I was there!!! What a fucking clusterfuck maze!!! Nice though I guess and everyone was so helpful. Thankful for 2 hours of Madrid, I’ll be back for you in 6 days maybe we can get to know each other better. The flight from Madrid to Lisbon was honestly exactly what I needed: empty row in the back, sprawled out across three seats and passed out for an hour. Unfortunately I woke up to life threatening turbulence, which actually has turned out to be the theme of the day. The layover in Lisbon was fine, delayed as all hell though (weather, hole in the tarmac (????)). At this point not even “shake it” by Frost children looped as loud as possible can keep me awake and alert. They made me check my bag because they hate me but that is also a pretty good external sign that I’m holding it together well (they wouldn’t ask me to do that if I looked like how I feel on the inside, I presume) and now on the last leg, Lisbon to Porto, and I’m up ONE MILLION. Even though I did just cry watching the sweetest interaction between a dad and his daughter, and also because the woman across the isle from me had the cutest black cat with her. This is European equivalent to Minneapolis to Chicago, sort of an up and down and *no* around vibe. I keep getting missed connection texts from my friend who is three hours ahead of me in this journey too which is an interesting and helpful development, something to look forward to at every turn. Hopefully my bag is with me on this plane and I can have a cappuccino or vino verde or both in an hour when I get picked up from the airport princess style by my family who are impatiently awaiting my arrival :) hopefully I never do this again!
Mar 10, 2025
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just had the most hellish dramatic stressful half hour of my life there was no one at the american airlines counter to check my bag and the tsa goon told me i couldn’t check my bag at the gate bc it wouldn’t go through the scanner bc it was too big (wrong) and says i should either ditch my bag and leave it in my car (???) or get on the next flight (this is the last flight of the day bc this airport is so small) so i’m calling my dad crying whimpering freaking out texting my friends who dropped me off to turn around and they’re calling my name on the intercom so many times and now i board in 2 minutes then i go back to tsa and a different guy and their supervisor are like u absolutely can check ur bag at the gate and it can fit in our scanner so i rush through security and make it onto the plane BARELY and i live to tell the tale. moral of the story always come EARLY. anyways i truly am such a lucky girl somehow i always make it through. shoutout my guardian angels 👼🏻
May 7, 2025
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trying to spin this positively because I’m very stressed about this. but uhhh positive spin… a day and a half of beautiful weather :-) seeing some of my best friends, one of whom just got a new kitten, and getting to be on set for hopefully two very fun shoots that I wrote for. pray I sleep through both flights amen
Feb 18, 2024
Traveling alone, coming back from India in 2013, I had a 12 hour layover. I'm prone to the occasional headache, but something about the cabin pressure of the flight and sinus blockage really fucked me up beyond belief. I was dangerously disoriented trying to find a hotel on my phone with no international phone plan, and I was at minute 59 of the free 1-hour Heathrow wifi when I booked a hotel room. I hopped on a bus to the place and didn't even know if the booking went through. Luckily it did, and I stumbled into the room, took a bunch of pain meds and passed out for 6 hours. When I woke up, I finally felt a bit more normal, but in that moment, it honestly felt like I could have slipped through the cracks of society and disappeared forever. I ended up walking around the city to take some pictures after feeling human again.
May 28, 2025
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Was given to me as a parting gift from a family member who I’m actually en route to visit in Portugal right now! I have never seen anything like this sold in stores, and it’s paint stains and holes make it feel like it belongs to me AND the person who gave it to me :) most complimented accessory and goes with everything because it has all the colors:)
Mar 10, 2025
